Dana Burland

It’s ArtPrize season in Grand Rapids. This is the sixth year of the art competition that’s such a hit it draws in crowds by the masses for the three weeks the competition runs. My family (who came in last weekend) and Ben’s (on their way into town this weekend) always make a fall visit for the event. This year the best art was really off the beaten path. On Saturday we visited new-to-my-family venues on the north side of town—the Women’s City Club, Lifestyle Kitchen Studio, St. Cecilia Music Center and First Park Congregational Church. We made our way down to City Hall and the Calder Plaza too, but the closer to downtown we got the more the art seemed to peter out. This year’s downtown showing is just… lacking. Besides ArtPrize, we made homemade pasta together, took a driving tour of Heritage Hill’s huge houses, played a round of disc golf and even had time to tackle a few wedding crafts I needed extra hands for. And despite a little lackluster art seen Friday, by Sunday morning e...

Does anyone that owns napkin rings really use them? How about an ice bucket and tongs? Every holiday dinner I can remember included someone yelling from the kitchen “who wants ice?” followed by frozen red hands dolling out ice cubes straight into glasses. It’s part of that “family” feel, I think. This was the never ending conversation Ben and I had in Bed Bath and Beyond while reviewing their list of suggested registry items. Twelves goblets, 12 red wine glasses and 12 white wine glasses? Three sets of everyday dinnerware so we can “wash dishes less often”? Why? Nowhere to be found was the fine print I was looking for— Alter this list of suggestions to your lifestyle and you’ll be a-okay . After taking that unwritten advice anyway, registering became much more fun. I could picture using our serving platters to pass around my stuffed peppers and the humidifier Ben gun-scanned will help with dry Michigan winters tremendously. (I, rightfully so, was not trusted with the retail wea...

My former car, the Silver Bullet, was a great ride. It was dearly loved by its owner and moderately loved by its passengers—assuming they didn't sit on the passenger side with the wind whooshing due to lack of weather stripping. Although the Bullet was a modest car from the start, it worked its way across multiple states, winters and adventures with (mostly) grace, ease and charm. It was adopted at the Troy Motor Mall on May 24, 2007 at the tender age of four with 62,877 miles to its name. For years we bonded over trips to and from college, popping CD after CD into play rotation. The Bullet schlepped me to and from all of my internships , friend’s houses, up north and back again. Its belly was wide and wondrous, seemingly deepening as I continually filled it with all of my life’s possessions—including a bikes—for each of my 9 million apartment moves . As a seven year old, the Bullet and I embarked on our grandest adventure— to Pennsylvania . And even though it fought endlessly...

Two weekends ago I froze on a boat in Lake Superior ; this past weekend I nearly got a t-shirt tan while biking through Detroit. You know what they say about Michigan weather—we truly do experience multiple seasons in a day or week. Instead of doing this year’s traditionally chilly northern Michigan fall bike ride , we did a ride through Detroit. The 30-mile Tour De Troit was great. We had perfect weather, Ben’s family and mine in tow, and plenty to see along the race course. Detroit is a big city with big shambles. 90% of the ride was through falling down neighborhoods, abandoned factories and hotels, and miles and miles of graffiti. It might not sound that scenic, but it’s fascinatingly sad to see this city that if I were my 20-something-year-old self several decades ago I’d be proud to call home. The other 10% of the ride? It was Indian Village and the surrounding area. Old, OLD mansions that somehow are still surviving beautifully in Detroit’s shadow. There was a great e...

Yes, three times the pasta. Well, four if you count every dish we cooked and ate our way through at our pasta cooking class tonight. Our cooking class at the Downtown Market was such a blast. A great and, hello homemade sweet potato ravioli, tasty way to spend a Tuesday night.

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has always fascinated me. Its densely wooded and deserted landscape shocks city lungs with fresh pine air, surprises with natural beauty and makes for a comically terrible place for car trouble. I sadly speak from experience. I offered to make the drive as my car’s last hurrah on our family vacation this past weekend. About 20 minutes after crossing over the Mackinac Bridge (which is terrifying) we were engulfed in forest. Just us, a little country road and dense trees. Well us and also the teenage black beer that sauntered across the road about 15 yards in front of my car. Dorothy, we’re not in Detroit anymore. We stopped in Paradise, Michigan and toured the upper and lower Tahquamenon Falls. Tannins from nearby trees that have leached into the water make the falls golden and amber (see photo slideshow below). So beautiful it brought out our excited faces. An hour and half west we stopped in Munising, home of the Pictured Rocks. We checked int...

If I saw cherry pecan chicken on a restaurant menu, I’d order it fast. I hoped the version I saw on a local catering company menu was as good as it sounded. Plump cherries, crunchy sweet pecans, grilled chicken—what’s not to love? Ben and I tasted that, plus a few more entrees, at our first catering tasting two weeks ago. Some dishes were so so; others—like the cherry pecan chicken—were spot on. So good I kept thinking about it days after our tasting appointment. So good I tried to recreate it myself. I didn’t have cherries or pecans on hand so I used cranberries and almonds instead. I added kale, onion and apple knowing they’d stand up to the balsamic vinegar well. The caterer makes it better, but my version ain’t too bad for a quick weeknight dinner either! Cranberry Balsamic Chicken Ingredients 2 raw chicken breasts ½ cup dried cranberries ¼ small red onion, diced ½ green apple, peeled and diced 1-2 stems kale, stem removed and leaves chopped ¼ cup sliced almonds, li...

You know those power walking, arm swinging, phone squawking ladies around your neighborhood sidewalks? That’s me. I’m dying to run, but I just can’t do it yet . My brain is ready for it (boy is my brain ever ready for it), but my leg just isn’t. So I’m walking instead. I go on long walks while talking to my girlfriends on the phone about work irritations and boys. It distracts me from my limitations, rejuvenates me with intentional catch-up time and yeah may slightly annoy fellow walkers briefly, too. Oops. Healing is hard and I haven't been entirely gracious (sorry, Ben). I’m thankful to have found a little peace in power walking. Wildflowers seen on a walk with a friend I battled in a similar way with a stuffed pepper recipe I made last week. I was ready to pass by a recipe I found online because of a long history of stuffed pepper failure: charred peppers, raw peppers, greasy filling, you name it. But this time I gathered my patience and gave it a whirl. And you kno...